Conspiracy theory? Half of Americans believe them, research shows

Astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., lunar module pilot of the first lunar landing mission, poses for a photograph beside the deployed United States flag during Apollo 11 Extravehicular Activity (EVA) on the lunar surface area called the Sea of Tranquility in this 20 July 1969 file photo. (AFP Photo) / AFP

​If you’ve ever doubted any sort of official narrative, then you’re far from alone: experts say that more than half of the people in the United States believe in at least one so-called conspiracy theory.

Recent studies suggest that around 50 percent of the American
populations subscribes to at least one conspiracy theory,
National Public Radio social science correspondent Shankar
Vedantam told NPR’s Morning Edition this week.

Whether it’s concerns about the true nature of the moon landing,
the Kennedy assassination or just about anything imaginable —
experts say at least half of the US isn’t so sure what to think
about some of the most controversial topics of the last few
generations.

Vedantam told NPR that researchers Eric Oliver and Thomas Wood at
the University of Chicago have come up with the latest staggering
statistic, which relies on data recorded by four nationally
representative surveys conducted between 2006 and 2011.

Using those polls, Oliver and Wood wrote, “[w]e find that
half of the American public consistently endorses at least one
conspiracy theory and that many popular conspiracy theories are
differentiated along ideological and anomic dimensions.”

“In contrast with many theoretical speculations, we do not
find conspiracism to be a product of greater authoritarianism,
ignorance, or political conservatism. Rather, the likelihood of
supporting conspiracy theories is strongly predicted by a
willingness to believe in other unseen, intentional forces and an
attraction to Manichean narratives,” they wrote. “These
findings both demonstrate the widespread allure of conspiracy
theories as political explanations and offer new perspectives on
the forces that shape mass opinion and American political
culture.”

According to Vedantam, the research suggests that not everyone
harbors the same doubts, either.

“So 19 percent of Americans believe the U.S. government was
behind the 9/11 attacks; 25 percent believe the recent financial
crisis was caused by the small cabal of Wall Street bankers; 11
percent of people believe the government is mandating a switch to
compact florescent light bulbs because the light bulbs make
people obedient and easy to control,” he told NPR.

“I think what this research is suggesting is that the
willingness to believe in one of these theories is really
widespread across the spectrum. And different groups of people
might believe different theories, but the propensity to believe
seems really widespread,” he added.